Mostly smut, 90% of the plot happened in the last 30% of the book. Also the characters were kind of bland??

I saw this one going around last year and had it in my tbr back pocket since then, a little skeptical of the hype. I didn’t know what to think of it at the beginning, because you know, insta lust and I don’t always get along. But my relationship with this book progressed the same as Christina’s with Patrick; slow and steady and sure. There was some magic in their dark, depraved dynamic that pulled me in and never let me go. I wasn’t all in when we were only in her head, but as soon as we started getting Patrick’s pov I was thoroughly invested.

Christina’s struggles with herself and the world around her were painful yet very real. Some of her actions are frustrating, but not entirely out of the realm of desperation. But Patrick tho. We throw around the word stern brunch daddy willy nilly these days, but he’s the literal and figurative embodiment of the term. I mean, he actually prepares her breakfast daily you guys 🥲 He’s the ideal dom with a knack for delivering humiliation kink and then he goes and rocks the praise kink too? Hot dayummm Patrick, with you and your dirty hurty mouth! He of course, has deep dark ugly secrets and the usual man capacity for stunted emotion but he’s a bleeping teddy bear underneath all that damaged control freak 😭

The last few percent of the story goes wildly dramatic but that somehow really works and heretofore one dimensional characters get some depth. This is as much a coming of age story as straight up erotic romance as we see Christina come to terms with being her best self at the same time as she’s discovering her darker desires.

Ratings:
Plot: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Romance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Diversity:⭐⭐ /5
Overall:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5
Spice:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ /5
Priceless by Miranda Silver is a college dark romance novel that follows Christina, a struggling college student who is finding it hard to balance her grades, expenses, and going out with her friends that don't seem to give a crap about her strugglings. Patrick, one of her fellow college students who she's only met once at a party and has felt drawn to him ever since, had a deal for her that might answer all of her problems. Christina should say no but she just can't seem to resist the deal and her draw towards Patrick.
This book is mainly smut but it also has just the right amount of romance and character development to even it all out. This book takes no time getting into the very well written smut and then it doesn't stop giving you those amazing smut scenes. The dirty talk in this book is *chef kiss* phenomenal and the smut was so hot. Though the smut in this book is definitely on the rougher side and may not be for everyone.
I absolutely fell in love with these characters and found that I could find something to relate to them on. I really enjoyed the character development throughout this book especially when it came to Christina and her coming to accept that she doesn't have to be perfect all the time and that it's important that she does what she wants not what other people expect. I loved seeing her relationship with her sister and her starting to realize that her sister isn't as perfect as she might think. I loved seeing Christina find friends that actually care for her and are there whenever she needs them, I loved seeing her find her worth and realize that the people who she calls her friends don't actually care about her but care about the things she can give them. I do wish that the storyline between her parents and her was a little bit more developed and I wish we saw her parents start to realize how their treatment of Christina wasn't always right and has caused her a lot of emotional harm and negatively impacted her way more then they knew.
I absolutely loved Patrick and his point of view was my favorite because he was just incredibly interesting and I wanted to know more about his past and his semester in Rome. I do wish we had more chapters from his point of view because I don't feel like he was as developed as Christina and I wish we got to see his feelings for Christina grow and see him deal with his trauma from Rome. Speaking of Rome, I wish we got to learn more about what happened there and honestly I would so be down to read a prequel about it. I wish the storyline with his family was more developed and we could see him work through his problems with his family, especially his mother.
I absolutely loved the romance between Christina and Patrick, I loved seeing them both help each other deal with their past trauma and begin to fall in love with each other. I loved how Patrick helped show Christina her worth and showed her that she is perfect the way she is and she doesn't need to be anyone else but herself. I do wish there was more scenes to develop their relationship outside of sex.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and definitely plan on picking up more works by this author.
⚠️TRIGGER WARNINGS⚠️ MISUSE OF ADDERALL, CHEATING, AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE